I read a critic this past summer totally rip on the whole true story stuff. Some suspense/horror flick from the past 1-2 claimed it was based on true story and the true part was about 10 seconds of an actual real scenario that took place, and the creators then fabricated a whole movie from that ten seconds.

Just sayin.

Criminals in this town used to believe in things...honor, respect."I heard your dog is sick, so bought you this shovel"

I read a critic this past summer totally rip on the whole true story stuff. Some suspense/horror flick from the past 1-2 claimed it was based on true story and the true part was about 10 seconds of an actual real scenario that took place, and the creators then fabricated a whole movie from that ten seconds.

Just sayin.

Good point, and that could be a whole nuther thread here.

I'm usually very leery about "true stories", and nothing pisses me off more than outright LYING about something just for dramatic effect.

Cinderella Man was an excellent movie, but it was downright libel when it came to its portrayal of Max Baer, which was so dishonest that it made a really good movie almost unwatchable for me.

Same with "A Beautiful Mind", where Ron Howard completely ignored so many facts about John Nash in his "biography", to the point that it was 90% fiction.

I loved the movie "Invincible", but it bothered me that they changed it in one very important way. They kept showing Vince Pepale's father as a central character in the movie, but in reality, he was dead a few years before Pepale tried out for the team. I understand that it "added character development", and that the real Pepale approved of the change, but I didn't like it.

Some changes I can accept in "true" movies. "The Express" had some out of sequence events (like Art Modell owning the Browns when Jim Brown was drafted). Frost/Nixon featured a telephone conversation between the two that probably didn't happen. "The Queen" featured numerous "speculated" conversations, but still rang true to the spirit of the events, as did "Hotel Rwanda" and "Letters from Iwo Jima".

But if they are going to completely change things around, I'd much rather see the words "inspired by actual events" rather than use real names and events, totaly shift things around, add characters, and play loose with the facts.